Witness the latest In Touch mag cover: “Angelina Gains 10 Pounds.” And the magazine goes on to ask if Ms. Jolie is pregnant.

There are theories that, these days, the “news” is being constructed by a paparazzi and tabloid industry – that it’s “made up.” And the hunger for following celebrity makes us feel we know the star, and images of same give us a sense of “home and belonging.”

And I say we are all celebrity junkies to some extent, probably because we can’t bear to be dealing all the time with the serious issues that surround us.

THE BRITS are headlining that many have much reputation to lose in the current 10-year-old inquest into the death of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed. And the follow-up to that has Prince William and his reunited girlfriend Kate Middleton talking to lawyers about the manner in which they have been “aggressively pursued” from a nightclub by photographers recently.

The 11 English jurors examining the death of Diana have been in Paris to see for themselves the service lobby of the Ritz Hotel, from which the princess and Dodi exited only minutes before their chauffeured Mercedes took them to their deaths in the Alma underpass. They have seen the actual accident site as well. And many films of Diana and Dodi have been aired showing them kidding around affectionately in the Ritz service elevator just before the accident.

Dodi’s father, Mohamed al-Fayed, is putting himself up against the Royal Family in accusing the Duke of Edinburgh (wed to Queen Elizabeth II) and Britain’s MI5 of causing the crash. Of course, he has to prove his theory. He now believes his own driver, Henri Paul, who died in the crash, told the paparazzi how to follow the Mercedes, and that the driver was in the clutch of the British secret service – out to prevent Diana from marrying a Muslim at any cost. (Did that include Henri Paul as willing to die himself in the service of the Queen? It doesn’t make much sense.)

Many who say they really knew Diana claim that the theory that the “romance” would have ended in marriage is wrong. Diana is said to have answered friends who chided her that she might end up wearing the chador if she wed Dodi, with a derisive, “Are you kidding? Forget about it!”

RONALD LAUDER, the art collector/ diplomat/heir to the Estée Lauder cos metic fortune, surprised New York when he and wife, Jo Carole, ended their 40-year marriage. (Rather, when he ended it!)

Now, comes word that Ronald will be moving into his famous late mother’s townhouse on East 70th, where he intends to display his amazing armor collection. Do we spell that “armor” or “amour”?

APPLAUSE to The New Yorker for last week’s Barry Blitt cover cartoon of Iran’s prexy Ahmadinejad in a toilet stall with a sandaled male foot in a “wide stance,” creeping under the divider. Funniest cover in the last decade (almost as funny as the Iranians last week asking Israel to move to Europe, Canada or Alaska).

Check charitybuzz.com and look up the Fete de Swifty auction ending today. They’re now offering a chance to meet Bill Clinton. Starting bid $1,000, said to be worth $25,000. You also get an autographed photo with Bill.

Dominick Dunne‘s touching heartfelt tribute in the new Vanity Fair is to the woman whose murder put music man Phil Spector on trial with a hung jury. Dominick visited the grave of Lana Clarkson, and if you want to experience an expert tugging at your heartstrings, don’t miss this.

THE DAILY MAIL now says their gos sip star Nigel Dempster died of a rare brain affliction, PSP (progressive supranulclear palsy), a disease that killed Dudley Moore. The memorial will be at St. Bride’s Church on Fleet Street, not St. Bartholomew’s, and as the church holds only 350 people, hundreds have been turned away for Wednesday’s memorial. . . . TONIGHT, the Nat’l Arts Club gives Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis its Gold Medal of Honor for Film in a black-tie tribute, where many big stars will say “Hail, Olympia!” . . . And hail also to Queen Latifah heading up N.Y. Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical’s cabaret on Oct. 23, along with Ashford & Simpson. Call (212) 573-6933. . . . Sharon Stone is the new Global Fundraising Chair of AmFAR, and Natasha Richardson and Diana Taylor are named to the board under Kenneth Cole.

SIGHTING: Charlie Rose, George Clooney and girlfriend Sarah Larson huddled at those tiny children’s-type tables in Cipriani 59th Street. Then in came the girl for whom they coined the word “Supermodel” – Cindy Crawford and hubby Rande Gerber. Also Anne Hathaway with Italian real estate agent Raffaello Follieri, and America’s own marrying kind of millionaire Ron Perelman with a demure blonde.